1st Intact Skeletons Discovered At Dig

September 24, 1986|By Lynne Bumpus-Hooper of The Sentinel Staff

TITUSVILLE — Archeologists at the Windover Farms dig began uncovering four apparently intact human skeletons Tuesday, a find they called significant because it can reveal ancient Indian burial customs.

It is the first time complete skeletons have been found at the site. The archeologists, who expect to finish uncovering the bones today, believe the skeletons are in the same position in which they were buried.

The 7,000- to 8,000-year-old skeletons are those of three adults and a child about 5 years old. They appear to have been buried similarly, curled in a fetal position on their left sides, facing northwest.

Dr. Dave Dickel, co-director of the project, said the find is important because, by showing how the Indians buried their dead, it will reveal more about their religious and cultural patterns. Although bones of 63 people have been found at the site, these are the first remains to be uncovered that are completely ''articulated,'' which means ''the knee bone is connected to the leg bone,'' one of the dig workers explained.

''This will be of major significance to our understanding of this site,'' Dickel said.

This is the third year of excavation at the burial site south of Titusville. Already this year, six human skulls, including the ones attached to the skeletons found Tuesday, have been discovered. The two skulls found earlier contained well-preserved brain tissue.

The archeologists started uncovering bones last week, but the bones' fragile condition and the need to preserve their arrangement has made it a slow and tedious process, said dig spokeswoman Madeleine Carr.

Billie Barton of Titusville worked carefully Tuesday afternoon uncovering the more delicate bones of the child. She estimated the child's age by its size and the absence of certain teeth.

Like the others, the child lay on its left side with its legs drawn toward the chest. One arm was between its knees and the other lay across its chest.

Some of the workers said the discovery has special meaning for them beyond the scientific data. It humanizes the culture and the people and gives a glimpse of their lives, they said.

''I think about these people putting this baby they have had with them for five years out here. You think of how they must have felt,'' Barton said.

Of the two skeletons nearly uncovered, one appears to have heavier and larger bones. Carr said the scientists know from earlier finds that the Indians were a healthy group, many of them living into their 50s.

Few tools have been discovered at the site. Dickel said Tuesday the absence of instruments could indicate that the tribes were very poor or that their concept of the afterlife did not require them to be prepared for further work.